The Promise in Your Words

Chapter 1: Then, I met you

Her

It must have been a Friday that I first saw him.
I was making a visit to the hospital with food for my mother, the first solid food she was able to have in over a week. The problem was, they had moved her to a different ward and I was lost.
The entire hospital was like a massive maze, the endless hallways just merged to create an entirely new passage or suddenly stopped at a dead end. I enquired at the help desk, but the sister was less helpful than the wall behind her.
I sighed as I resigned myself to walking down another hallway, without looking at the overhead sign of course.
I looked through the doors and saw beds filled by men, however, my already tired mind hadn't processed that this was actually the men's ward while I kept walking forward. And so, I took a U-turn and headed immediately for the exit.
I noticed that every single one of the men's rooms were filled with people, friends; family and probably even work colleagues, yet in the women's ward it was perhaps half as packed. 'Men were so dramatic, after all.' I laughed to myself.
I stopped, aware of a room that had no sound of talk, laughter or anything. I looked at the door, it was closed, but even a closed door would have let out some sort of sound if there were people in it.
My curiosity got the better of me and I peeped through the small window on the door. Inside there was only a single person. His outline very vague from the blurred pane of glass. I looked around the room, or what I could see of it, but found nobody. He had nobody with him. He was alone in the cold ward.
"Do you know him", I was startled at the sudden voice behind me as quick turn revealed it to be a sister of the ward.
"Sorry", I asked the sister holding a clipboard as she looked at me with hopeful eyes.
"Do you know the man in there?" The nurse's voice sounding more hopeful as she asked the question again.
"No, I – uh, sorry. I don't know who that is", as I spoke the nurse suddenly looked depressed. Her shoulders fell, and her gaze dropped to her clipboard. "Is there nobody here to see him?"
"No, I thought that maybe you might be a friend or relative of his", the nurse spoke looking through the glass at the man, "He came in a two days ago but only woke up sometime last evening. He hasn't gone back to sleep nor has he spoken to anyone besides the doctor."
"That's really sad", I looked back into the room, "Mind if I asked what happened to him?"
"Yeah, sure. Just give me a minute, I'll be right back", the nurse left quickly, briskly walking down the hallway and into a room.
I looked back into the room, my palm slowly rested on the door so I could stand on my toes to get a better look at the man. I nearly fell forward when the door slid open after the pressure from my meagre weight.
Quickly, I looked up and noticed that he didn't even so much as even glance at the door. I felt a bit offended but more curious as to what person would not have looked for a visitor in this dreary place. After a quick glance to see where the nurse was, I walked into the room and took a look at the man.
My breath caught as I realised that this was no man but a boy around my age, maybe 23 at most, His broad shoulders stretched the hospital gown to each side while his arms rested on the bed, tightly wrapped in bandages that did little to hide his lightly built muscles. His face was hidden behind his lengthy black hair that sprawled about in an unkempt manner. Even as I edged closer to him, he never once looked in my direction.
"Hey, are you okay", a voice left my mouth before I even realised I had said it. I guess I could take that up with my strong sense of caring for anything I see alone or hurt.
After what the nurse had said, I didn't expect any response from the boy but I stood frozen to the spot when his face turned in my direction. His pink-lipped mouth was, not perfect I would say but, ideally lined inside a square jaw and under a bulky yet pointed nose. His cheek bones were high and lined the side of his face carefully while his eyes hid behind the oily strands of hair that fell over his forehead.
I took a closer step and still he said nothing but as a step forward immediately made me regret my actions. His bright grey eyes looked at me with fresh, shiny tears that ran down the sides of his cheeks.
The look in his eyes was empty while his tears screamed at me with pure sorrow and complete pain.